HiBy Introduces MQA to its R3 Tidal Portable Music Player

With the iPod and all the clone mp3 players now long gone and forgotten, music enthusiasts already deeply committed to music streaming services are looking again for ways to enjoy higher-quality and high-resolution audio options when out of home and on the move. Manufacturers like HiBy are responding with dedicated and affordable streaming music players like the R3, promoted as the smallest and lightest Tidal's Online Music Library Player. And now HiBy also confirmed MQA playback support for the R3.

The New York digital audio specialists from Mytek Digital have showcased two brand new products at High End Munich 2017, starting with the highly portable Clef mobile headphone amplifier USB/DAC with MQA, which the company previewed earlier at the High-Resolution Audio Pavilion at CES 2017. The other news is the launch of a brand new Class-D design for their newest amplifier, aptly called the Brooklyn AMP, following the same form factor of the Brooklyn DAC.

Audio-Technica’s ATH-DSR9BT Wireless Headphones with Pure Digital Drive and the AT-ART1000 Direct Power Stereo Moving Coil Cartridge have received CES 2017 Innovation Honoree awards from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). The ATH-DSR9BT is the first headphone with wireless Bluetooth technology to employ Audio-Technica’s new Pure Digital Drive system, which keeps the audio signal completely digital from source to driver.

Bluesound introduced its new Pulse Soundbar at CEDIA 2016 and will be showcasing it at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2016 in Denver (7-9 October). This is the world’s first soundbar to support Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) high-resolution audio, joining Bluesound’s family of MQA-ready wireless Pulse speakers and Node players, enabling wireless hi-resolution music streaming to any room in the home.

Following the conclusion of its CSR acquisition in August 2015, Qualcomm had much more technology to show at CES 2016, including the launch of the new Qualcomm aptX HD enhanced codec, building on the existing aptX audio codec platform, now supporting 24 bit music quality over a Bluetooth wireless connection. Qualcomm states the enhanced audio codec will help manufacturers make wireless high resolution audio a reality.

Bluesound was the first wireless digital multi-room music system to fully support high-resolution audio. Now, the sister company to NAD and PSB Speakers unveiled Gen 2, an upgraded platform of virtually every aspect of the product’s design and performance with reengineered multi-room wireless streaming digital music players and two entirely new models.